Girdle or foundation garment



Jan. 29, 1946. c. BULLINGER 2,393,612

GIRDLE OR FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed Feb. l2, 1945 Patented Jan. 29, 1946GIRDLE OR FOUNDATION GARMENT Conrad Bollinger, Downers Grove, Ill.,assignor to A. Stein and Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofIllinois Application February 12, 1945, Serial No. 577,4 16

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in womens under garments, such astypified by socalled girdles and foundation garments which are usuallydesigned to supply support to the wearers abdomen.

Conventional garments of this character are quite generally equippedwith various arrangements of panels to supply the supporting function,such panels usually consisting of fabric which is inelastic and, in someinstances, of fabric which is elastic only in one direction, usually inthe horizontal direction. In girdle type garments, supporting panels ofthe said character have u sually been equipped with some form of stay;that is to say, some form of flexible metal or bone supporting strip orstrips arranged in pockets which usually terminate at the upper orwaistline edge of the garment. These stays have been required -for thepurpose of preventing folding of the upper marginal portion of thegarment front downwardly, incident to the movement of the wearer, andespecially incident to bending of the body as when a person sits down.

Many proposals have been made for strengtherung the supporting panels soas to prevent them from becoming excessively wrinkled and for soarranging and perhaps for eliminating the supporting stays which aregenerally responsible for much of the discomfort complained against bywearers of these garments. The employment of stays which extenddownwardly or at an'angle' from the upper edge of al girdle type ofgarment has long been known as being responsible for considerablediscomfort experienced by wearers of the garments, especially when theyare seated. When the body assumes a sitting position there is a strongtendency to fold the upper front marginal portion down on the garmentbut metal or other stays resist such folding and act like prongs whichproject into the wearer with consequent severe discomfort.

The main objects of the present invention are to provide garments of thecharacter indicated with an abdominal supporting panel which will behighly effective to supply the desired support; to provide such garmentswith an eiective supporting panel which is wholly free from rigid orsemi-rigid stays or harsh reinforcing seams or other devices designed tosupply the functionliiof stays; to provide in garments of the characterindicated, supporting panels which not only provide effective supportbut which may be so shaped or styled as to provide the garment with anattractive appearance which is of great importance in respect of theselling of the garments:

and to provide garment panel structures as aforesaid, which may beproduced and embodied in garments at low cost both in respect of thematerial in the panel itself and in respect of the cutting of the panelto its required shape, and the joining of the panel to the otherportions of the garment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood byreference to the following speciilcation and accompanying drawing (onesheet) wherein the invention is illustrated as applied to a pantiegirdle type of garment and to a foundation type of garment.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a pantie girdle type of garment;

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front perspective of a foundation garment, and

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

In the pantie girdle type garment shown in Fig. 1, the side, rear andleg portions constituting the main body I of the garment, may he formedof any suitable material such as a knitted or woven material which iselastic in the horizontal direction. The crotch part of the garment maybe formed of a suitable knitted or woven inelasticv insert 2 which mayextend continuously from one leg into the other.

The central .front portion of the garment is formed of a panel 3 whichis, in this instance, of laminated construction. The panel 3 comprisesan outer fabric member 4 of silk, rayon or other material which willprovide the desired appearance, an inner ply or layer 5 of material suchas cotton or shaker annel which has a nap on the side which is inside ofthe garment and which contacts the body. The two layers or plies 4 and 5are united in face to face relation over their entire areas by means ofan intervening ply or coating 6 of rubber or rubber-like material, suchas some of the now known vinyl resin compositions which have some of theproperties of rubber and are, in effect, forms of synthetic rubber. Theuniting coating 6 is preferably a moisture proof, water'insolublecoating which will not be dissolved or so affected by laundering inwater or by perspiration that the bond between the outer and innerfabrics 4 and 5 would be materially impaired.

Fabric ofthe character described has the characteristic of astrongresistance to sharp folding and permanent creasing `while at the sametime remaining soft and iiexible enough to be capableV of hugging thebody of the wearer of the garment. The outer and inner fabrics 4 and 5are preferably of non-stretchable material, especially in the horizontaldirection of the garment, and preferably in all directions so that thepanel will provide the required abdominal support.

Fabric such as employed in the panel 3 may be formed by applying acoating of the laminating material 6 on either the outer or inner fabricmember and then applying the other fabric member, and passing thelaminated fabric through suitable squeeze or pressing rolls to insureeffective and all-over bonding between the plies of the fabric.

.A sheet of laminated fabric of the character described may be cut toany fanciful shape without regard to the direction of the Wales orthreads of the fabric since the threads of the two fabrics areeffectively anchored by the bonding ply 6 whereby there is no tendencyfor the fabric to unravel at its edge. Hence, the panel 3 with itsfanciful downwardly pointed shaping and its concavely curved side edgesmay be cut from a piece of the fabric and united directly to the body Iof the garment without taping, hemming or otherwise finishing the edgesof the panel. This is illustrated in Fig. 2 where the raw cut edges ofthe panel are indicated at 'I and stitching uniting the panel to thebody I of the garment is indicated at 8. This stitching may be of anysuitable form and may of itself be such as to more or less ornament thegarment, as indicated in Fig. l.

For finishing the upper or waistline edge 9 of the garment, an elastictape I may be secured to the inside of the garment and the upper edgesof the body I and the upper edge of the panel 3 may be turned inwardlyand downwardly so as to be covered by the band I 0.

In the foundation garment shown in Figs. 3 and 4, an abdominalsupporting panel II may be provided in the front portion of the garmentI2. The panel I I may be of the same kind of material as that describedabove in respect of the panel 3 and in this instance the panel II isillustrated as being located between inner and outer plies I3 and I4respectively of net-like material forming a front panel I5 in thegarment. The sides I6 of the garment may be of any desired material, forexample, material which is stretchable both vertically and horizontallyof the garment. A central back panel may be formed of net material, suchas the material in the front panel I5.

The panel II is secured in place between the inner and outer plies I3and I4 of the front panel I5 by stitching I6 which may follow thefanciful contour of the panel II. The panel II, like the panel 3, may becut from a suitable sheet of the material and because of its laminatedconstruction may be embodied in the garment without binding or otherwisetreating its raw edges I1.

In Fig. 4, the panel II is illustrated as a single thickness of materialwhich is in keeping with the manner of handling the material during thefabrication of the garment. It will, of course, -be understood that thepanel II consists of at least one ply of fabric and a ply ofmoisture-proof, water insoluble material having the characteristics ofrubber in respect of its resistance to sharp folding and permanentcreasing. Because of the presence in the arrangement shown in Figs. 3and 4, of an inner ply of fabric independent of the panel I I, it is notessential that the panel I I have its own inner fabric ply such as thefabric ply 5 of the panel 3.

supporting function. The normal resistance of rubber or rubber-likematerial embodied in the panels 3 and II to folding and permanentcreasing does not interfere with bending of the garment as required whenthe wearer changes her position as from a standing 'position to asitting position, but it has the advantage of causing the supportingpanel to resume a flat, unwrinkled condition when the wearer resumes astanding .position. It has been found that any wrinkled condition whichmay exist in the abdominal panel portion after a full days wear of thegarment will almost completely disappear during an overnight period inwhich the garment is not being worn. This is presumably due to thecapacity of the rubber or rubber-like material to resume its normal orinitial shape.

In a girdle type of garment, such as shown in Fig. 1, the describedpanel structure is particularly advantageous in that it eliminates theneed for any form of semi-rigid stays. The panel 3 is free to folddownwardly, especially near its upper edge as is usually required whenthe wearer of a girdle changes from a standing position to a settingposition. There are no relatively stiff stays to resist such foldingmovement and to retain a more or less upright position to the severediscomfort of the wearer. Nevertheless the capacity of the material toreturn to its normal shape is such that when the wearer of the garmentresumes a standing position the upper portion of the panel will alsoreturn to its normal, smooth, body-hugging condition withoutobjectionable wrinkles or folds.

Another advantage of the described construction is that it avoids theusually necessary hems or other binding at the cut edges of theabdominal supporting panel, whereby the formation of thick,uncomfortable seam-like ridges is avoided along the panel edges where itis joined to the body of the garment.

The described constructions typify the application of the presentinvention and it will be ununderstood that it is applicable to girdlesand other garments which are not necessarily pantie girdles orfoundation garments. Various changes may be made in the describedconstruction while retaining the principles of the invention.

I claim:

l. A garment of the class described having a horizontally stretchablebody portion and an abdominal supporting panel, said panel being oflaminated construction embodying an inextensible textile fabric ply anda ply of flexible, water insoluble material united over its entire areain face-to-face relationship to said textile ply, said water insolubleply being of material which has a live rubber-like resistance topermanent folding and creasing and thereby tends to restore the panelfrom any folded or wrinkled condition to a normally smooth condition,said panel serving, when the garment is distended and stretchedhorizontally while being worn, to permit the abdominal covering area ofthe garment to freely bend and wrinkle when the wearer bends as whenchanging from a standing to a sitting position, and to restore saidabdominal covering area of the garment to smooth, body hugging conditionwhen the wearer resumes a standing or from any folded or wrinkledcondition to a nor@ mally smooth condition, said panel serving when thegarment is distended and stretched horizontally while being worn topermit the abdominal covering area of the garment to freely bend andwrinkle when the wearer bends as when changing from a standing to asitting position, and to restore said abdominal covering area of thegarment to smooth, body hugging condition when the wearer resumes astanding or straightened position, said panel serving also, when thegarment is not being worn, to effect self ironing of said abdominalcovering portion of the garment.

CONRAD BULIINGER.

